The 2016 American Community Survey shows that renters occupied 43.8 million residences in 2016, explained the US National Association of Home Builders Tuesday. Of these rental homes, 34.8 per cent are one-unit single-family homes, 17.7 per cent are 2-4 unit structures. Therefore, more than half of all renters, approximately 53 per cent, lived in buildings with less than 5 units in 2016.
Single-family homes made up a substantial share of rentals from 2005 to 2016. Moreover, the one-unit single-family rental share has experienced the largest gain among all structure types. Its share increased 4 per cent from 2005 to 2016, compared to only 0.8 per cent in- crease in the share of multifamily homes with 20 units or more, and modest declines in other structure types, said NAHB.
Home Sales, House Inventory, US: Full Year 2017
Sales of new homes in the US have now risen for six consecutive years, said NAHB Thursday. After falling to a recession-induced low of 305,000 in 2011, sales have nearly doubled reaching 608,000 over 2017. However, even at this level sales remain at historically low level. Similarly, the inventory of homes available for sale rose by 14 percent over 2017 to 293,000. However, by historical standards, the inventory of homes remains low as well.
While greater demand and relatively low inventory is contributing to higher prices, the composition of sales by sales price is playing a role as well, explained NAHB.
For existing homes, NAR detailed that December inventory decreased 11.4 per cent, and is 10.3 per cent lower than a year ago, having decreased for the 31st consecutive month. At the current sales rate, the December unsold inventory represents a 3.2-month supply, the lowest since NAR began this series in 1999. December existing sales reached a seasonally adjusted rate of 5.57 million units, compared to a downwardly revised 5.78 million in No- vember. Total existing home sales include single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops.
The December median sales price of an existing home of US$246,800 was up 5.8 per cent from a year ago, representing the 70th consecutive month of year-over-year increases. The December median condominium/co-op price of US$236,500 was up 6.4 per cent from a year ago.